The Rise of a Noble

A week later, early in the morning, a big caravan arrived at Gragon. The caravan set up camp in an already harvested field. Soon all the landed knights and baron Monver arrived outside the central tent. The tent was large in size but not too big. It was made of silk and dyed crimson and. Next to the closed entrance stood two proud banners both also made of silk and dyed crimson with a black griffin embroiled in the middle. While red dye was somewhat expensive and silk was extremely expensive. The most striking feature was the guard's armor. They were both clad in high-quality full plate from head to toe.While the quality of the armor sets one there selfs was extraordinary. Both sets were actually products of an enchanter and as such, they were full with rune carvings which occasionally flickered with powerful arcane energies.

The entrance order was the same order as the order with which they picked their Exoristous. The ones waiting engaged into some casual conversation. Conversing from their Exoristous picks to the guard's armor to even the weather and the chance of rain. About an hour later it was Galahads turn.

The insides of the tent were rather stark. Two bookcases, three chairs, a simple wooden bed, a wooden desk, and a small chest. Behind the desk, a middle-aged scholarly man was slowly writing.

Galahad went inside the tent remained silent and bowed.

The sound of writing was the only noise in the room for ten whole minutes after that the man took out a thick folder and gave Galahad a piercing glare and spoke.

"You must be Sir Galahad. You may sit."

Galahad nodded and sat on the chair.

The man then continued.

"I am the Logistics Centurion Daric von Margar. You may speak if I ask you a question. Am I understood?"

Galahad nodded.

Daric continued on.

"Good. Now please give me your ring and tell me your family motto."

Galahad took off his silver signet ring and simply responded.

"Prosperity through adversity."

Daric nodded he took the ring and said

"Do not disturb me until I give you permission."

Daric then took out a golden signet ring with a red gemstone. He made the two signets touch and he seriously said.

"For the King"

He then continued

"Prosperity through adversity."

After that, he remained motionless for five minutes looking mindlessly at the rings.

Five minutes later Daric stopped spacing out he lifted his head took out a piece of silver-colored wax and a piece of paper.

Daric then simply said.

"Your requests have been approved you just need to sign here."

He pointed in an empty spot in the bottom of the paper. He then returned the silver signet ring. Galahad nodded as soon as the wax was melted Galahad used it to sign the paper. He then methodically cleaned his signet ring once again.

Daric then simply explained.

"Since this the first time you own Exoristous you should know that. Firstly Mistreating them is a crime as they are for the duration of their crime the rented property of the king. The fine depends on the severity of the mistreatment and the point value of the individual subject.

Secondly, you may order them around as you see fit. As long as your orders are not idiotic. All the orders you give get transcribed through the medium of your ring and checked three months before the next evaluation.

In the case they attempt to escape at the point they leave the range of a hundred kilometers they will automatically die. You can also inform us of any escapes and we will manually activate the instant kill mechanism.

In the case, you get murdered by an Exoristos negligence. The Exoristous which have been deemed as guards will immediately die. Only two Exoristos can be assigned as guards at your rank. In the case, you get murdered by an Exoristos every Exoristos under you will die.

Other minor crimes will increase their sentence time. If a prisoner reaches a certain level of criminality it will be taken off your hands and your points will be returned in full.

In the case of your death, the controller becomes the next person in the line for the fief. That is all. Any questions?"

Galahad though about it for a while and then he asked.

"What if they die?"

Daric simply responded.

"It depends on the reason for their death. In the case of natural causes, you don't need to do anything. In the case of death in combat if it is against external elements you don't need to worry about it. But if the reason is internal conflicts, you shall repay the king through either point reductions or through monetary means. Where one point equals to ten whole silver coins. With an important caveat, the last rule is only true if you are the aggressor. Or you are the one counter invading another lords territory. If that is all you have to ask you may leave. Exit through the back of the tent your Exoristoi have already been gathered."

Galahad nodded and exited the tent through the back. There a foot soldier waited for him.

The soldier gave a military salute and said.

"Decan Man at Arms Roland Smith in your orders Sir."

Galahad nodded and said

"Take me to my Exoristous."

The soldier nodded and said.

"Yes, Sir. Follow me, Sir."

Soon the soldier led Galahad at the south side of the camp. There gathered a crowd of about three hundred people. Mostly children, some women, and some adult men.

Galahad looked at the soldier and asked.

"So mister Roland how many people are there and what is there numbers?"

Roland gave a military salute and said.

"Sir there is eighty-one men, seventy-two women, and two hundred and two children. From which ninety-three are boys and a hundred and nine are girls."

Galahad nodded and then Bellowed.

"Alright listen up. From today onwards you are my subjects. I have great plans for you and we shall leave in an hour but first, I want to know which ones among you are Boris O Prasinoktonos, Emaria Olia, Eledor Gragin, and George Derkan.

The crowd quickly split up and the middle and threw it came four people. A young dashing fellow, An old muscular man, a beautiful young lady, and a short grizzled man.

Galahad simply said.

"Please introduce yourselves from oldest too younger."

The short grizzled man said

"I am Boris they call me Prasinoktono I am pretty vood at kill voblins."

Galahad nodded and said.

"You definitely look the part. I hope you are ready to exterminate some goblins. I am planning to have you create a squad and start hunting them."

Boris smiled from ear to ear and said seriously.

"Understood Boris will definitely do a vood job."

Galahad then just said.

"We will set this up when we are back at my fief. Next one please."

The muscular fellow nodded and said.

"I am Eledor Gragin. I am a simple family man and a blacksmith. I hope you will be able to provide me with a place to hone my craft, my lord."

Galahad nodded and said.

"Well met Eledor. I do indeed plan to do so. But I would like to ask how much will it cost. You know the whole supplies tools and all."

Eledor looked at Galahad and said.

"Well my liege we Exoristoi can take any possessions not used to pay any fines as such I have all of my blacksmithing equipment with me. As such, I only need a house for my family, a workshop, and some starting supplies such as Iron and coal. After that, I should be able to make both enough money to pay for my own livelihood and enough to pay taxes."

Galahad nodded, and he stated.

"This will be done it may take some time though until the buildings are set up. Next one"

Eledor just nodded.

The dashing fellow then said.

"I am George Derkan. I am a master Masorian I only need some decent food and maybe a woman here and there."

George said while grinning and stealing a glance of the woman next to him.

Galahad nodded and said.

"Duly noted. You should be lady Emaria Olia. So what do you need?"

The lady nodded and simply said.

"I am indeed Emelia Olia. As for what I need a house and a workshop would be nice. A steady supply of herbs is a must and some new glassware would be nice. I also have most of my equipment with me. But some of it was destroyed on the bumpy road. I hope we will be able to get it replaced as soon as possible."

Galahad nodded and said.

"It seems a lot of you have personal items I would like to know what items each and every one of you took with them. Please come one by one and report your items."

Galahad then looked at the soldier and asked.

"Can you write it down?"

The soldier simply nodded.

Soon everything was written down. Outside of the smiths and herbalists equipment every person had between two and ten cloth sets about ten of them had peasant swords with one of them even having a decently maintained chain mail. About thirty various tools and quite a bit of kitchenware. The total money they had was six gold whole coins eleven whole silver coins and ten bronze whole coins. Additionally, they had a set sleeping ware.

Galahad nodded and said.

"Alright, then it is already midday if we start now we should be able back to Highkeep without too much trouble."

Thankfully with only the need to hire two extra carriages for five silver coins they managed to transport the peasants' belongings.

The group soon left the camp. Four hours later they arrived at the newly rebuild hamlet of Highkeep.

As he arrived, he was quickly informed about the arrival of the church building group which started rebuilding their temple in their already prepurchased land and secondly two more hovels have been finished.

Firstly Galahad went to meet up with his old friend Markos. He found him overseeing the construction of the temple.

Galahad simply asked.

"Hello, Markos how is the construction going? I would like the spiritual needs of my peasants to be satiated soon."

Markos smiled at Galahad and said half ironically.

"Well building a temple takes time and money. Speaking of which Sir Galahad would you be so kind as to offer some donations to the temple."

Galahad smiled and responded with the same tone.

"Well, father as you are well aware. I am sadly unable to procure any money. As I am knee deep in debt. But I will be sure to donate at the first chance."

Markos smiled and nodded adding.

"I hope so for the salvation of your soul."

The purchased tents had already been set up together with the old ones. The houses were given out with point priority as such George and Elegor were first given houses. With all of this new manpower, Galahad needed to specialize his workforce. Firstly he took the eight unmarried men and formed a militia with Boris as the captain and Martin as the lieutenant.Ludwig and four others officially started hunting again. Four other men were put into transport duty their job was to bring back ale and wheat daily and take any useful products they can and sell them. Ninety-five percent of the exports were either furs, horns, or antlers. Galahad also appropriated the peasants' money and claimed they were going to be used to buy extra food and ale so their stores can last until the end of next year. What he actually used the funds for was to buy both iron and coal and boost his treasuries finances. The children were added to the wattle team, and the women were tasked with mostly cooking and taking care of the camp.

Additionally, George and ten others were in charge of rebuilding the keep and the walls but with stone this time. To rebuild the keep, they needed two thousand and two hundred and eighty square meters of stone. The job of the ten guys was to first mine rocks from the rocky outcroppings and after those were mined out directly mine from the hill. Then take the quarried stones and move them at the top of the hill where the new keep is being built. Then George would use his control of the earth elemental to meld the rocks together. An average days' progress was ten square meters as such the project should be finished in nine months give or take. The rest of the men were added to the logging and house building teams. With all of this extra manpower, they finally had time to build a proper chicken coup, sheep and pig enclosers, and even a stable.

Three months later it was the start of the sowing season using as such Galahad used a whole gold coin to buy enough seeds to sow the fields. He also bought Four oxen have been as well as two plowers for another whole gold coin. In other news the militia was slowly shaping up there were seventy new houses, a smithy, and a herbalist workshop and even a small "barracks". Thankfully most of the men were now free and as such, they could now officially start sowing.

At the same day, George asked for a meeting with Galahad. When George arrived before Galahad he had a self-congratulating smile plastered on his face.

Galahad looked baffled and asked.

"What is it?"

George continued smiling and said cheerily.

"Well, I have some great news. But as a reward, I would like three whole silver coins for a night out in Gragon"

Galahad said impatiently.

"Alright if your news is that great I shall grant your request."

George smiled even brightly and with the news of the confirmation he said.

"Well you know the granite quarry we created under the hill we actually struck ore."

Galahad smiled and asked happily.

"Ore, what type of ore?"

George smiled and simply said.

"Copper."